Laura Kilty

Samhain 2023

I have been engaging with the Celtic calendar since I was a teen. The four cross-quarter days of Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain were hugely important to my ancestors and continue to be for those of us who acknowledge them- along with the equinoxes and solstices- as a means to be in tune with our changing seasons throughout the year.

Each point on the wheel offers an opportunity to check in with what Nature is physically doing and energetically implying at that time and see how ‘as above, so below’ applies to our mind, body and emotional worlds.

Samhain has always been the most important to me, a time of year when ‘the veil is thin’ and honouring your ancestors is encouraged. A time when nature is shedding leaves, letting go and allowing decay and death to have its time as we move towards the stillness and peace of winter. Falling on the 31^st of October, it is from Samhain that the tradition of Halloween has come about, and like all Celtic festivals, it begins at nightfall and goes through the night to the following day.

There’s a lot I can say about Samhain and my own connection to it but I believe I express myself best through music. Each year I make pieces for the points on the calendar and in the last few years have felt moved to share some of them on my Bandcamp. My intention being to draw attention to the seasonal shift, the cycles we all live in and as a collective seem to have forgotten we are unendingly a part of, and to honour my ancestors and lineage to which I feel a deep connection.

‘We Call’ will be available to buy and stream on https://lauralair.bandcamp.com/ on October 31^st 2023.